Google in talks with Tencent, others for cloud services in China

CALIFORNIA (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google is in talks with Tencent Holdings Ltd , Inspur Group and other Chinese companies to offer its cloud services in the mainland, Bloomberg reported , citing people familiar with the discussions.

The talks began in early 2018 and the internet giant narrowed partnership candidates to three firms in late March.

It is immediately unclear if the plans will proceed in the wake of increasing trade tensions between China and the United States, the report said.

Google and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Google, which quit China’s search engine market in 2010, has been actively seeking ways to re-enter China, where many of its products are blocked by regulators.

Through local partnership, Google aims to run its internet-based services through the domestic data centres and servers of Chinese providers, similar to the way other US cloud companies access that market, the report said.

Reuters on Thursday reported that Google plans to launch a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites and search terms.